Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Reasonable Care?

Recently my wife and I had our property seized and sold at a sheriff's auction. It was not property we were living at or visited very frequently. We had quite a bit of tools, equipment, and several classic vehicles stored there. After the sale I was unable to get the ''new'' owners name or address because the public records didn't reflect the purchase yet. Several months after the sale I was contacted by the ''new'' owner for an unrelated matter, at which time I asked him about my personal property I had there. His reply was that he got rid of that junk. My question is this; Isn't he required to take ''reasonable care'' of my possessions or isn't there some ''notification procedure'' required before he can sell or throw away my things?

P.S.-- It may sound stupid, but I saw a segment on the show ''people's court'' where a lady got rid of anothers property who was renting her garage storage and hadn't paid or contacted her in a year. She was liable.


Asked on 4/03/06, 4:34 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Lyle Johnson Bedi and Johnson Attorneys at Law

Re: Reasonable Care?

I have not researched this issue for a house siezed and sold in to satisfy a judgement etc. However, when a house is sold at a forclosure the occupants must be evicted and their property disposed of as provided for by law. In this case there is another aspect to consider. You were not living in the home at the time of the sale. Again by analogy a storage facility must give notice before disposing of your property.

First you should prepare the most complete list of property that was left in the house and disposed of by the new owner. Then determine the value of each item. Present this list and a demand for payment to the new owner. If the owner offers to pay damages then determine what you want to accept.

If no offer of payment is forth coming then based on the value of the property you can determine how much to invest in attorney fees in an attempt to collect for the lost property.

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Answered on 4/13/06, 12:55 am


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